As everyone who reads this site knows, I support gay marriage, but when I read the following in an Andrew Breitbart column this morning, I nearly lost it:
Elected officials in Chicago made international news last week by proposing to create a public high school for gay, lesbian and transgender students.
The Pride Campus of the School for Social Justice is set to open with 600 students in 2010, and its curriculum promises to “teach the history of all people who have been oppressed and the civil rights movements that have led to social justice and queer studies.”
Is that real? Say it ain’t so. What’s going on? Are we headed back to an era of segregation under the guise of “progressivism”? First a presidential candidate (and likely president) living under the tutelage of a black separatist and now this. How could we get more reactionary? The whole point of the civil rights movement was integration. Or am I missing something?
Well, I must be, because this is a world where Paul Krugman gets a Nobel Prize. No real surprise there. But the idea that they give a Nobel in economics in this day and age is comical in itself.
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20 Comments
1. davidingeorgia:apparently the Ayers/Obama education “reforms” had more effect on Chicago schools than they’re being given “credit” for having
Oct 13, 2008 - 9:01 am 2. Dan D:Roger, I am not a fan of Paul Krugman’s political commentaries. But he has been an interesting and important thinker and writer in the field of economics.
Economics is a field that has continued to evolve and develop important understandings and insights into how our societies function. Diversity of thought and original thinking still occurs in the field.
Given the depressing state of the art, it is harder to understand why there continues to be a Nobel Prize for literature. Or maybe it is just the narrow slice of literature that is considered acceptable to the prize committee.
Oct 13, 2008 - 9:02 am 3. hermie:But what has Klugman done that has warranted a Nobel? What breakthroughs in Economic theory has he accomplished?
It seems like the ‘Peace Prize’, the Nobel committee is more concerned about awarding the prize to the most left-leaning recipient they can find. Klugman’s pontifications in the NYT seem to be the actual criteria by which he was awarded this Nobel.
Oct 13, 2008 - 9:09 am 4. Minerva:Roger: About Paul, ditto. About proposed Chicago school, isn’t there already one like that in S.F.?
Maybe it is true that “Everything old is new again.”
Oct 13, 2008 - 9:13 am 5. PC14:New York opened the first public high school for gays in 2003–The Harvey Milk School. Apparently the main reason supporting the school was that so many gays are bullied and were dropping out. I have mixed feelings about this.
Oct 13, 2008 - 9:27 am 6. tim maguire:I don’t see why they have to hand out a prize every year. What’s wrong with saying this year there’s nothing out there prize worthy? It would do wonders for maintaining brand value. As would ceasing to give the prize out to whoever best embodies the committee’s whimsy this week (a peace prize for making a global warming movie?!?)
Oct 13, 2008 - 9:53 am 7. Jay:“First a presidential candidate (and likely president) living under the tutelage of a black separatist…”
Any thinking being knows that if relationships with bizarre religious figures were a disqualifier for the presidency, much of the GOP would be out the door. That you continue to overlook this while harping on Wright says something about how partisan you’ve become. “But, but,” you stammer, “Obama casts himself as something different…”
All politicians do. McCain is the first real war hero pol since Dole, and the Arizona senator believes he alone is the bipartisan savior of us all, when the Palin pick turned out to be a transparent appeal to the GOP base. The selection of a Lieberman, Ridge, or Powell as veep, that would’ve been bipartisan, and a signal that, for the first time in some forty years, Rockefeller Republicans are welcome on the national stage. That’s your best ideological fit, Roger, but the GOP’s elders don’t want you, Lieberman, Ridge, Powell, et al.
The truth is, we have two candidates reasonably different, but not overwhelmingly different, from both the highly ideological Bush base and the triangulating Clinton Democrats, with the Obama team in sync with most Americans on the issue of the moment: the economy. I like a good enough number of the Illinois senator’s policy proposals to wish him elected, and there is only one way to truly support gay marriage: to root for judges who back it, too. Do you, Roger, really believe McCain will pick judges sympathetic to you on that? You won’t answer, I know. You’re too busy implying Obama’s relationship with Wright means the senator is a bigot.
Oct 13, 2008 - 10:18 am 8. Real Craig:Next thing you know, they’ll want separate drinking fountains.
Oct 13, 2008 - 10:44 am 9. NonVibrant:How old are American “high-school” students? If they’re like English secondary-school students, they’re 11-18; when I was at that stage, I wasn’t sexual at all, let alone hetero- or homo-: I went to a boys-only day school, dating just didn’t exist, there just wasn’t any time when I wasn’t either doing my homework or taking part in some less than thrilling activity mainly for over-40s with my parents. Do American high-school students all necessarily KNOW that they’re gay or straight?
Oct 13, 2008 - 10:52 am 10. Anita Hope:Jay, Sen. Obama may have grown in the last year regarding what he visions for America, however, his choices of associations for the past adult years leaves much to consider. Both he and Michelle’s college years and associations have been kept under raps, yet we know Sen. McCain was a big fun before
Oct 13, 2008 - 11:07 am 11. srlucado:education type of student and his behavior is a public record, why not their’s? At the beginning of this long campaign, Sen Obama said little regarding his
grandparent’s, refering more to his father, who left him and his mother to truly fend for themselves, yet it was his father he seemed to praise, why? He
should have written a book with a title honoring them for taking the responsibility of what they did loving him so, again, why? He has a half brother that
needs his help, if he is, why not let us know about it. How can we believe that Sen. Obama can follow through with his promises when we see none of the
promises he states coming out of his past performances. Segregated education is not needed in our country, educating our children to respect the rights
of all regarding their private lives is healthy for our society if it is to grow as a democratic nation. The rights of marriage whether of opposite sex or same
sex is no ones bussiness but the two party’s. We are invading right’s of equality, soon we will question the right’s of what we eat, drink & ware, which is
one of the Riligous Factors we do not want regarding our right of America Freedom.
“I looked Jay in the eyes, and saw the letters t-r-o-l-l.”
Anyway, what comes next? Are there going to be overweight-only schools? Left-handed-only schools?
Will we one day have the “Barack Obama Academy of Excellence for Guatemalan-American Nearsighted Height-Challenged Never-Been-Kissed Gluten-Intolerant Special-Needs Children of Alcoholic Parents (On-the-Autism-Spectrum Sub-Annex)”?
That’ll be a lonely kid.
Maybe Al Gore was right when he said that E Pluribus Unum meant “Out of one, many.”
Well, this is what happens when you let political correctness rum amok. It tramples rationality into the mud and you’re left with…well, the Democratic Party.
Scott
Oct 13, 2008 - 12:05 pm 12. David Thomson:“Roger, I am not a fan of Paul Krugman’s political commentaries. But he has been an interesting and important thinker and writer in the field of economics.”
Yup, a very good case can be made that Paul Krugman earned his Nobel Prize economics! Only a few years—he was a fairly sensible guy. Krugman, unfortunately, is presently the Andrew Sullivan of economic thinking. His most recent stuff is often pure junk. The man is being legitimately judged on his past efforts.
Oct 13, 2008 - 1:06 pm 13. David Thomson:“…and there is only one way to truly support gay marriage: to root for judges who back it, too. ”
There should be no such thing as a judge rooting for gay marriage—or the opposite position. That is not their job. They are to uphold the Constitution. Do you believe in gay marriage? If so, contact your legislator. Judges should not be legislating from the bench.
Oct 13, 2008 - 1:10 pm 14. chrisa798:“But the idea that they give a Nobel in economics in this day and age is comical in itself.”
That’s a fairly rhetorical recession-proof observation.
As bi-handed American (write, eat, shoot pool lefty, all else righty) I object to the patricarchal right power structure and the dextrous groupthink of the lefties. Where is my school, one that will embrace my true handedness, whatever it was?
PC14 makes a salient point, though I’m a bit puzzled that the sages who run public schools haven’t velvet-bludgeoned all aggression out of the boys, what with their masters of education degrees.
What I find even more outrageous is that evidently many schools don’t teach phonix anymore (I despised those red books with their “tear-out” pages, but it worked).
Oct 13, 2008 - 1:23 pm 15. Morenuancedthanyou:Nonvibrant,
Oct 13, 2008 - 4:09 pm 16. Steve:High-school students in the U.S. (and, I believe, in Canada) have students from the 9th, or sometimes 10th, grade through the 12th grade. Students usually turn 15 while in the 9th grade, unless they have been “skipped up” or held back a grade.
Maybe I’m behind the times, but since when can children under 18 get sex-change operations? “High schools for the transgendered”?!!
Separate but equal was racist. But in universities blacks and maybe gays now prefer to be ‘equal but separate.’ As you note, that is a distinction without a difference.
Oct 13, 2008 - 6:05 pm 17. Jungus:I have noticed, that most people here still look to Federal level politicians through the filter of national defense (vs. Terrorism). 9-11 was a seminal moment in their lives causing us to rethink our politics. In this respect it is still easy to see which candidate (or party) will be more aggressive against those enemies.
Oct 14, 2008 - 9:36 am 18. Cobra:When it comes to economics, neither candidate really has a hands on which policy is superior. McCain has not made his policy known (at least I have not seen it). Obama has but he has also surrounded himself with those who exacerbated the problem.
In this thread, I haven’t seen either candidate candidate call or defend it for what it so glaringly is — Separate but Equal. These kinds of schools would be ok, however, if we instead had a private school system where parents can enroll their children based on costs, availability, and peers. Good schools do not need a lot of money and it should be easy to educate even the poorest students to a very high level. I am interested in how this might wash with everyone here.
Anita Hope writes:
>>>”Jay, Sen. Obama may have grown in the last year regarding what he visions for America, however, his choices of associations for the past adult years leaves much to consider. Both he and Michelle’s college years and associations have been kept under raps, yet we know Sen. McCain was a big fun before
education type of student and his behavior is a public record, why not their’s?”
In the spirit of constructive dialogue, Anita…can you honestly say that a man like Senator Obama, who’s written two lengthy memoirs, and has had investigative journalists, particularly conservative ones, scour through every aspect of his life, from his birth certificate, to his grade school to his distant relatives is being kept “under raps?”
Keeping with consistancy, Anita…exactly how MUCH of Senator McCain’s “associations” have been discussed in the mainstream media, between his admitted infidelities, his FULL military record, his involvement in the Keating Five Scandal, and this interesting fact:
>>>”In the 1980s, McCain served on the advisory board to the U.S. chapter of an international group linked to ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America.
The U.S. Council for World Freedom aided rebels trying to overthrow the leftist government of Nicaragua. That landed the group in the middle of the Iran-Contra affair and in legal trouble with the Internal Revenue Service, which revoked the charitable organization’s tax exemption.
The council created by retired Army Maj. Gen. John Singlaub was the U.S. chapter of the World Anti-Communist League, an international organization linked to former Nazi collaborators and ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America. After setting up the U.S. council, Singlaub served as the international league’s chairman.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081007/ap_on_el_pr/mccain_iran_contra;_ylt=Asett2iFGI7XNbY2V.KkYrus0NUE
Hey Roger L. Simon, I’ll see your William Ayers and I’ll raise you Nicaraguan Death Squads.
I’ll see your Tony Rezko and I’ll raise you Charles Keating.
I’ll see your Reverend Wright and I’ll raise you Nazi Collaborators and McCain’s votes FOR the Confederate Flag and AGAINST the Martin Luther King Holiday.
In other words, folks….I hope and PRAY John McCain takes Harvard schooled Law Professor Barack Obama’s bait and brings up “associations” at the next debate.
Better get your popcorn ready.
–Cobra
Oct 14, 2008 - 11:34 am 19. Jungus:Cobra,
You used the Nazi collaborators twice. use them only once. Death Squads? You ever hear of one called Al-Quaida? No? How about Hezbollah, Hamas, or abortionists?
The Keating scandal is good, but it was also a bit of needing a token Republican to lessen an all-Democrat snafu.
As to Obama getting investigated by journalists, all I remember is that guy that looked into the Annanburg Challange stuff. Oh ya, that writer that went to Kenya and got the boot. Other than that WHO? Seriously, who? There were teams of network news investigators sent to Arizona and Alaska. I have not heard of one big newspaper to TV network looking into any part of Obama’s past.
Really, this doesn’t matter to you or me. I am voting for McCain because he has weathered his very public scandals well enough and currently surrounds himself with people that don’t cook the books.
Hey we all would like those who are squeaky clean but I don’t get to vote for Thompson or Romney.
My popcorn is now in someone’s car.
Oct 14, 2008 - 12:44 pm 20. Anita Hope:Cobra, when I asked about Sen. Obama and his background I am asking about his associations in college, organizations prior to graduation, groups he belonged to, any political activities in college etc, The same regarding his wife while at Princeton, did she associate with any groups, such as debating
Oct 14, 2008 - 6:29 pmsociety and mixed racial groups, that may have caused her to feel as she did about this country which was hers as much as any one else born here. In
college we all get involved with groups that may turn out to be radical and once we find out we disasociate with them, I know I did. I am looking into the real character not the newspaper print-ups. Thank you for your courtesy and reply.